Freeform Responds To #NotMyAriel Comments That Criticize Casting Of Halle Bailey As Little Mermaid

After Disney announced the casting of Halle Bailey, star of the show Chole x Halle, as Ariel for the live-action version of The Little Mermaid, some fans on Twitter seemed to have a problem with it. Freeform has not been afraid to bite back.

Chloe x Halle shared on its Instagram account a photo of an animated Ariel, who was black and had brown hair. The caption of the photo said, “dreams come true…” Freeform also shared a photo on its Instagram of this news, showing its pride in Bailey, who currently plays Sky on Freeform’s sitcom Grown-ish.

On Twitter, some, who call themselves Disney fans, have expressed disappointment by the fact that Ariel is being played by someone who is black. #NotMyAriel has been tweeted multiple times as well.

Freeform posted a comment on its Instagram, “But for the sake of argument, let’s say that Ariel, too, is Danish. Danish mermaids can be black because Danish *people* can be black.”

The comment then closed with, “spoiler alert — bring it back to the top — the character of Ariel is a work of fiction. So after all this is said and done, and you still cannot get past the idea that choosing the incredible, sensation, highly-talented, gorgeous Halle Bailey is anything other than INSPIRED casting that is because she “doesn’t look like the cartoon one”, oh boy, do I have some news for you…about you.”

Freeform then even took this comment and made it into a posted on its own Instagram account.

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